History · Cannon Falls

Cannon Falls’ post office opened in 1889, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #10 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it

9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 23 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and old-book passages.

1889first post office

9on the National Register

34%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Cannon Falls’ archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Cannon Falls began

When was Cannon Falls founded?

1889

The Cannon Falls post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cannon River Falls (1855), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 4,220137 years

How historic is Cannon Falls?

A⁻

More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Cannon Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

History grade

What drives Cannon Falls’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cannon Falls is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #10 of 273 in Minnesota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

A⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cannon Falls’ overall grade.

Founding era1889, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 194033.8% of homes (±8.5) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%A National Register9 listings, 30 historic buildings, 71.0 per 10,000 residents · typical MN town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4A

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 84%

NewerOlder

Minnesota towns of 2,500+ (273)Ahead of 97%

Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cannon Falls’ 71.0 sits above most of its state (96% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 30 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Cannon Falls’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe Cannon Falls Commercial Historic District takes in 23 historic buildings.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1893 to 1921, drew every building in Cannon Falls.Landmarks on the Register9 places on the National Register.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cannon Falls’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cannon Falls’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewBridge 4759, Carrying Trunk Highway 20 …: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the National Register

9 listings protect 30 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1980

Cannon Falls School

BuildingsDistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Italianate3

Richardsonian Romanesque1

Greek Revival1

Pennsylvania through truss1

Late Victorian1

Commercial Queen Anne1

Cannon Falls SchoolRichardsonian Romanesque

Capt. Charles Gellett HouseGreek Revival

Church of the Redeemer-EpiscopalBuilding

Ellsworth Hotel Livery StableBuilding

Firemen's HallBuilt 1888

Yale Hardware StoreItalianate

Third Street BridgePennsylvania through truss · Built 1909

All 9 listings

Darwin E. Yale HouseBuilding · listed 1980 Cannon Falls Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2000

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Every building

Cannon Falls, building by building, 1893–1921

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Cannon Falls fire insurance map, 1893, sheet 1

1893Sheet 1 of 1

Edition

Sheets

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story so far

Cannon Falls, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cannon Falls yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Cannon Falls Township is a township in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,236 at the 2000 census. Cannon Falls Township was organized in 1858, and named for the falls on the Cannon River.

Its first post office opened in 1889. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,083 to 4,220 (+3%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Cannon Falls, 1878–1909

Passages that mention Cannon Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Cannon Falls Township received its name from the Big Cannon river, and its branch, the Little Cannon, whose sudden change of level forms a falls in the western part of the township, at the point where the city of Cannon Falls is now located. The Big Cannon Hows through the northern part of the town… — **History of Goodhue County, Minnesota**1909 · page 167Read the page →
Read the text
Cannon Falls Township received its name from the Big Cannon river, and its branch, the Little Cannon, whose sudden change of level forms a falls in the western part of the township, at the point where the city of Cannon Falls is now located. The Big Cannon Hows through the northern part of the township, from west to east, and its valley is marked by many changes in topography. The outer bluffs of the river are frequently more than a mile apart and over two hundred feet above the water in the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Western railroad, secured the beautiful home and spacious grounds of John L. Davis for a new church home. A chapel was fitted up in 1902, in which service is regularly held since the pastor was relieved of Cannon Falls. As the good mother rejoices to see her grown daughter establish a new home and … — **History of Goodhue County, Minnesota**1909 · page 435Read the page →
Read the text
Western railroad, secured the beautiful home and spacious grounds of John L. Davis for a new church home. A chapel was fitted up in 1902, in which service is regularly held since the pastor was relieved of Cannon Falls. As the good mother rejoices to see her grown daughter establish a new home and family, so did the congregation and pastor of Belle Creek rejoice at the advance of Cannon Falls from a mission to an independent parish in 1905.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Ascending (he prairie towards Cannon Falls, evidence is soon exhibited of passing over a region where sandstone is the outlier. Before reaching the village of Cannon Falls, the white St. Peter Sandstone is seen in the slopes of the bluffs, on either side of the Cannon River, capped with its coverin… — **History of Goodhue county, including a sketch of the territory and state of Minnesota**1878 · page 194Read the page →
Read the text
Ascending (he prairie towards Cannon Falls, evidence is soon exhibited of passing over a region where sandstone is the outlier. Before reaching the village of Cannon Falls, the white St. Peter Sandstone is seen in the slopes of the bluffs, on either side of the Cannon River, capped with its covering of Trenton Limestone. In this locality the Saint Peter Sandstone has been worn down by erosion, forming the valleys of the Little Cannon and the Great Cannon, above the village of Cannon Falls. The material once forming this stratum may be seen
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Four miles south of the village of Cannon Falls, at the old Freeborn farm, on section 6, in the township of Leon, the Shell Limestone, in place beside the road, exhibits the same organic remains as those found in the bluffs west of the village. The strata here dips to the south about two degrees, a… — **History of Goodhue county, including a sketch of the territory and state of Minnesota**1878 · page 195Read the page →
Read the text
Four miles south of the village of Cannon Falls, at the old Freeborn farm, on section 6, in the township of Leon, the Shell Limestone, in place beside the road, exhibits the same organic remains as those found in the bluffs west of the village. The strata here dips to the south about two degrees, and conceals the sandstone long before reaching the head of the stream. The Trenton Limestone affords good building material, as well as supplying lime to the inhabitants in many localities in the county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Cannon Falls, 1855 to 1974

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1855Post officeThe Cannon River Falls post office opens
1888BuiltFiremen's Hall is built
1889Post officeThe Cannon River Falls post office closes
1889Post officeThe Cannon Falls post office opens
20th century
1909BuiltThird Street Bridge is built
1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Cannon Falls, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date

Bridge 4759, Carrying Trunk Highway 20 over Cannon River

Date?Bridge 4759, Carrying Trunk Highway 20 over Cannon Ri…

On the map

Cannon Falls on the map, 1974 to 1990

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cannon Falls. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1974Cannon Falls sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cannon Falls.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewBridge 4759, Carrying Trunk Highway 20 over Cannon River

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cannon Falls’ page.

Retake this view · +15

Famous people

Famous people close to Cannon Falls

Nobody well known was born in Cannon Falls itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →

Patrick FluegerAmerican actor · b. 1983

Derek StepanAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1990

Frances Theresa DensmoreAmerican anthropologist and ethnologist · b. 1867

Mark Steven JohnsonAmerican film director and writer · b. 1964

Harry OliverAmerican art director · b. 1888

George Ashley CampbellAmerican electrical engineer · b. 1870

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Cannon Falls’s post office has been open since 1889. Another post office, Cannon River Falls, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cannon River Falls

1855–1889

Cannon Falls

1889–today

18501940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Riverside Terrace Mobile Court

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cannon Falls

Cannon FallsSaint Anscars

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Cannon Falls TownshipIts storyC⁺Stanton Township3 historic placesB Randolph TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Douglas TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Hampton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Cannon Falls’ history

What year was Cannon Falls founded?

The Cannon Falls post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Cannon Falls rank for history?

Cannon Falls is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #10 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Cannon Falls?

9 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Cannon Falls School (listed 1980, the first), 1 historic district, the Cannon Falls Commercial Historic District, with 23 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 30 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Cannon Falls?

34% of Cannon Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1967.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

Post to Cannon Falls

Check your email